~*Chapter One*~
Fat Chasers and a Dementor
Summary Cho wasn't the only one in love with Cedric…
Rated PG13
Disclaimer If I owned Harry Potter, I would be sitting in the middle of a mansion in England thinking about Prince William in my hot tub…but alas! I don't even own a hot tub.
Author's Note Starts at the beginning of third year…for Harry, anyway. This is NOT an AU fic, except for one little thing- I'm putting Oliver and Cedric and putting them in the same year as Fred and George and the whole lot- for romantic purposes, okay? So now everyone mentioned above is sixteen and eligible for the Triwizard Tournament in a year. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are still their regular ages, though. Keep in mind that this is not (really) AU except for that one thing. Also, this story IS a romantic, dramatic one. Just be patient.
~*~
Angelina Johnson stepped off the scarlet train, holding a small bag in her hands. She sighed, breathing in the sweet air of England. Never before had she felt so happy to be here, away from all the chaos at home. An involuntary tear slipped down her cheek at the thought and she hurriedly wiped it away. The memories brought to mind the strange dementor on the bus- what had that been about?
"Angelina!" A familiar voice called. Alicia Spinnet was running towards her, her ponytail bouncing with every step. Angelina smiled and waved as her friend ran up to her, leaning on her shoulder for breath. "Hi…Ang…el…"
"Spit it out, Alicia!" Angelina said, smiling and slapping her friend on the back. Alicia buckled. "You really need to get back in shape, girl! Quidditch season's starting! You know, Quid-ditch?" Angelina smiled at Alicia.
"Let's go up to the castle," Alicia said, fully recovered from her little sprint. "Oh, and we have to get the dates for all the Hogsmeade visits, I'm almost out of Pepper Imps, and then there's the Chocolate Frogs, and I finished my last bag of Ice Mice on the train!" she complained. Angelina laughed. It was good to be back.
~*~
"Wood!" Angelina said affectionately, wrapping her arms around Oliver and squeezing him tightly, lifting her feet off the ground.
"Angelina!" Oliver cried, scandalized. Angelina let go and laughed. As usual, Oliver was not upset over what he had appeared. "How many pounds have you put on?" he asked. Angelina put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Not just the Seekers are supposed to remain skinny, Angelina! Have you ever watched ten minutes of Muggle TV? There's a miracle product out there- called Slim Fast, write that down- and it's the best thing bestowed to the human race."
"You can shove that Slim-whatever up your ass, Wood," Angelina said, sitting down at the Gryffindor table. "It's Alicia that's been packing on the pounds, not me."
"ALICIA!" Oliver bellowed. Angelina shook her head and laughed. She had always been fond of the Gryffindor team captain, since the day she had joined the team as one of their Chasers.
"Just sit down," Angelina insisted to the furious Keeper. "Do you really think Alicia will listen to you?" Oliver sat down heavily and stared darkly at the door of the entrance hall, waiting for Alicia to walk in. "I wonder where she is," Angelina said.
At that moment, a red-faced Alicia burst in the door, followed by two equally red (haired) boys by the names of Fred and George Weasley. The mischievous twinkles in their eyes hadn't changed a bit since last year. Angelina smiled at them as they sat down, saying hello to them. Dumbledore, at the High Table, stood up.
"Welcome!" He said, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast." The Headmaster paused a moment, his gaze sweeping over the students. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled with tricks or disguises or even Invisibility Cloaks." Angelina fancied that his gaze rested on the Gryffindor table as he said this and she looked around curiously. Maybe he was thinking of Fred and George. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses," he continued. Then Dumbledore introduced two new teachers, a rather shabby looking man named Lupin and, surprisingly, the caretaker, Hagrid. Angelina raised her brows at this. Everyone knew that Hagrid had been suspended. Then, food appeared on the plates. George took a helping of everything.
"Good potatoes," George said through a mouthful of the stuff. Oliver removed his glare from Alicia for a moment to shoot George with death lasers. George ignored this and continued to slide half a stick of butter off onto his potatoes.
"Will everyone slack off with the eating?" Oliver cried suddenly.
"Calm down, Wood," Fred said, not taking his eyes off his plate. "What would you rather have us eat, salads?" Then, at that worst possible moment, Alicia's robes opened and a bag stuffed full of assorted Hogsmeade candy slid onto the table. The whole of the Gryffindor team turned their heads towards Oliver, whose face was as red as a Muggle fire truck.
"Oliver?" Angelina said cautiously. "You look like a fish." This comic relief had come so suddenly that Oliver let go of his breath and stared at the Chaser curiously. Then he sighed and slumped down in his seat.
"I don't know," he mumbled, "I just want that cup so bad, so we can smear Slytherin guts all over it."
"Slytherin's don't have any guts," George pointed out.
"But good point, anyway," said Fred hastily. Angelina put an arm around Oliver and patted his back.
"It's okay, Oliver," she comforted, "'sides, we got Potter. And, nothing can possibly go wrong this year. Right?" she soothed. "Calm thyself." Oliver looked sidelong at her, and half of his mouth curled up in a smile.
"Right," Angelina said. "Back to business." She took her arm off Oliver and returned to cutting up an enormous piece of chicken. Alicia tucked the bag of sweets back into her robes.
"Sorry Oliver," she said, sounding like a little child.
"'S alright, Alicia," Oliver said.
"This whole Dementor business is creepy!" cried a whiny-voiced third year named Parvati. "I wish they weren't here!"
"Just as long as they don't screw up a Quidditch match, I'm happy," Oliver said. "Or if Hufflepuff doesn't beat us."
Angelina's eyes stole over to the Hufflepuff table, to the face of the handsome Cedric Diggory. Her heart skipped a beat before she could jerk herself into the real world again. Cedric was chased by almost every single girl in the school and had dated almost all of them. Angelina told herself that it was just a crush and her mind returned to Quidditch and the Gryffindor team.
"So, did you hear about that escaped convict? Sirius Black, he escaped from Azkaban!" Alicia said worriedly. "That's why the Dementors are here."
"I'd like to know how he did it," remarked Fred, in all due seriousness. "I mean, Azkaban."
"Can we think about Quidditch, please?" Oliver said sharply.
"Just because you think about it 24/7 doesn't mean that we do too, Oliver," said Alicia indignantly.
"Yeah," Katie Bell chimed in. "We have a life."
"But this is one of our last chances for the Cup! It's either now or never!" Oliver said, impassioned.
"Now or never, or next year," George pointed out. "There's always next year."
Oliver slammed his palm on the table and stood up. "I'm going to bed," he said angrily, storming out of the Great Hall.
The remainder of the team watched the door expectantly. A minute later, Oliver slammed the doors open again and went to talk to Percy. "Fortuna Major," the prefect said wearily. Oliver nodded and stomped his way back out again.